Byron Byron is offline

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Thanks Bryon. I didn't find your response until today. I guess I didn't know where it was posted. I contacted the seller of the driftwood and he says the wood is NOT cedar. I have put the pieces I bought in the aquarium and so far, so good. How soon did you notice you had a problem when you had driftwood kill half your fish? What wood do you recommend?If the wood begins to get real soft and basically rot, take it out. As for anything toxic in it, this is impossible to determine until it leaches out. I've only once had this occur in 20 years, and it was with some softish wood that in hindsight might have been cedar or similar. Since then I use Malaysian Driftwood, sometimes called ironwood; is it very dark brown, hard, and heavy, it sinks immediately. B.

I have a question about my 29 gallon tank cycling. I put 3 clown loaches in on Tuesday night (4-16). I have tested the water every 24 hours for the last 5 days (tonight will be day 6). I have the API freshwater master test kit. Every reading has been the same.

pH 7.4
ammonia .50 ppm
nitrite 0
nitrate 0

Is this normal? I have 11 live plants so maybe they are taking the ammonia but i have no nitrite or nitrate. Is the tank cycling? Am i just being impatient? Please let me know if this is normal or not. Thanks.I am surprised at the ammonia. Plants will take up a lot of ammonia, and with sufficient plants and low fish load you will (or should) not see ammonia or nitrite at all, and nitrate may or may not show up eventually. Have you tested your tap water for ammonia? What plants are they? At this point, I suggest you post a thread in the forum so we can explore this better. BTW, clown loaches will grow much too large for this tank, you do realize that? B.

Hi Bryan, I just received 2 very lovely pieces of old driftwood I found on ebay that was advertised for aquarium use. It floats and one piece smells like cedar. It looks like it has been aged in water. Should it be safe to use? Thanks, GrannyfishI would not put cedar in an aquarium. Being a very soft wood, it will quickly decompose. And being soft it also absorbs substances more than hard woods and these can be toxic and leech out quickly. I had this occur with wood from a store years ago, killed half my fish before I realized what it was. B.

Hi Byron, I saw that you wrote in a comment a while back that you gave flourite a try and that your cories didn't like them. Was it the regular flourite? or flourite sand? Thanks for your time! I know you're a cory fan and i value your opinion.It was the regular Flourite Black; I have not tried the sand. But aside from the roughness, the plants were no better in this tank than in others with plain sand or gravel, so in my view I would not waste the money. B.

Hi Byron, I saw the article you posted about the bacteria in aquariums which is exactly what I was looking for. I am doing a lab report on bacteria and wanted to know if I can cite it. Is this a published paper?Nothing on the forum (meaning articles, profiles, posts, etc) is copyright. TFK does appreciate being mentioned as a source if you can.

Hello Byron
I was wondering if you could share a bit of wisdom. I have read on some of your posts that circulating pumps in a planted tank were not really beneficial and may actually do more harm than good by depleting co2. I have a planted 55 gal. Aquarium with sand substrate on top and Eco complete and other dirt underneath. In my previous tank which was all dirt I was having the same issue until I installed a circulating pump after which it cleared it right up. I'm changing 30 percent of my water once a week and when I do I suck up the green stuff but by the next week when it's time to do a water change it comes back. My parameters are 76 deg, ph of 7.5 nitrate 10 ppm ammonia 0 nitrite 0. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I'm using Rena xp2 filtration, 2 24 inch coralife light fixtures with 4 6700 k t5 bulbs 14 watts
each.Please post this as a new thread in the forum. Byron.

The aquarist is one who must learn the ways of the biologist, the chemist, and the veterinarian.[unknown source]

Something we all need to remember: The fish you've acquired was quite happy not being owned by you, minding its own business. If you’re going to take it under your wing then you’re responsible for it. Every aspect of its life is under your control, from water quality and temperature to swimming space. [Nathan Hill in PFK]